Estranged Souls
by NatNicole
Summary: "A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory." The girl knew that her identity was not what it appeared to be. The boy knew his friendships meant more than anything. But can their Hearts handle it all?
1. Episode 1

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Warning: Semi-AU, since I am not creative like the Authors of _'Wanderer'_ , _'Heart & Soul'_, _'Eclipse of the Heart'_ and _'Two of Hearts'_. Meaning canon scenes are **non-existent** unless specifically referred to.

* * *

 **Summary:** "A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory… A far-off memory that's like a scattered dream… I wanna line the pieces up… Yours, and mine.."

* * *

His windswept, short spikes of golden blonde hair flowing as if there was a breeze running through it. Only, as more of the 12- to 13-year-old boy was revealed, it became apparent he was slowly falling headfirst. Cerulean blue eyes fluttered open, oddly calm.

The dark, very cloudy sky, crimson flashing through it like a lightning bolt.

Anyone watching from below would have seen the back of the boy as he fell through water, drowning. A light shined above him from the surface.

Back to him as he fell further down, bubbles leaving his lips. We zoomed into his face and his re-closed eyes popped open.

 _"Oh!"_ The calming music changed.

Suddenly he was no longer in the water, but standing on a sandy island.

Blondie looked around confusedly for a moment, then was bringing his hand up to block the Sun from his eyes.

In his place now stood a slightly older boy with a similar heart-shaped (but lightly tanned instead of peachy) face, his chocolate brown hair in bigger spikes different in style from before. He was lowering his hand (clad in a fingerless white glove).

Spiky looked forwards and saw a pale, slightly muscular boy about 15 years old standing knee-deep in the ocean, his shoulder-length silver hair fluttering from the breeze.

 _"Na, na, nah."_

Recognition flashed in Spiky's light blue eyes before a smile lit his face. He took a step forward, but the water between them took him by surprise.

 _"You've given me–"_

Spiky looked up in alarm, mouth dropping open. A giant wave was coming up behind his best male friend.

Silver turned around, fully aware of the wave clearly beginning to crest behind himself but not even trying to move away. His casual clothes had turned into a skin-tight dark bodysuit with a light hula-skirt.

 _"So many things. Lately,–"_

Silver then extended his right hand, beckoning the brown-haired boy to come towards himself as a blurry image of another boy briefly overlapped his.

 _"You're all I need! (All I want)."_

Spiky ran through the shallow water hurrying to meet his friend, hand outstretched. But the water overcame them first.

 _"You're part of me (an' smiled, an' smiled)."_

Spiky backwards somersaulted through the water, finally coming to a stop.

 _"Don't get me wrong, I love you."_

He lifted his head slightly, floating with Silver standing (for lack of a better word) in front of him.

The silver-haired teen still was offering his hand.

 _"But doesn' tha' mean I have to push you farther?"_

Spiky tried swimming towards his friend but the current was too strong and he was pulled back.

Blackness before the sky at Sunset visible from below Spiky in the water, only this time he floated upwards.

 _"When we are rolling,_

 _Understand what I meant when I said 'No,_

 _I don't think life is quite that simple'."_

Spiky spurted upwards from the water. He shook his head getting the water out of it, then examined his surroundings.

 _"When you walk away,"_

His eyes landed on a girl with short, dark red hair. She was waving at the shore.

Red cupped her hands around her mouth, yelling something before she began to wave more.

 _"You don't hear me say_

 _'Please! My best friend!_

 _Don't go!'"_

Spiky waved back, then made his way towards her. Red called out to him and then continued to wave. When he reached her, Spiky bent over resting with hands on his knees as he looked at his best female friend.

 _"Simple and clean_

 _Is the way that you're making_

 _Me feel tonight!"_

Red was laughing, navy blue eyes sparkling in mirth and a hand near her mouth.

She sobered and looked up, smile fading as Red lowered her hand.

 _"It's hard to let it go!"_

Spiky straightened in surprise, then halfway turned around to see what she was looking at.

 _"Ho-old me!"_

The two looked up in shock as, with the shooting stars, a body enveloped in black and white smoke was falling from the evening sky.

 _"Whatever lies beyond this mourning_

 _Is a little later on!_

 _Regardless of warnings,"_

The boy's body, then his face became easy to see.

Only for Spiky to realize that it was Blondie at around their age, wearing a couple small pieces of armour. He was the smoke-covered, falling star.

 _"The future doesn't scare me at ah-all!"_

Blondie collided with Spiky's chest, vanishing in light forest green wisps.

 _"Nothing's like before!"_

Red looked down at him in shock as Spiky began to fall through the sand as though it was water, mirroring his own shocked expression.

 _"Ho-old me!"_

Spiky was falling through the Sunset sky now, arms flailing as he reached up for Red.

 _"Whatever lies beyond this mourning_

 _Is a little later on!"_

Before we saw that she was also reaching down for him.

Only, Red's image blurred as she changed to another girl (with snow-blonde hair, same eyes as Blondie and wearing casual clothes) while reaching down towards Spiky.

Snow's image then dulled in ripples and disappeared behind transparent water.

 _"Regardless of warnings_

 _The future doesn't scare me at ah-all! "_

Spiky closed his eyes, somewhat in peace before a bright light flashed just as he hit what looked like a dark gray ocean.

 _"Nothing's like before!"_

Spiky was in the water again, which was a darker blue now.

Swerving downwards in the darkness until finally, after a very slow backflip, he landed on his feet. He looked around for a bit before taking a step forward. The platform underneath him dimly glowed.

Bird-like things flew up from it, rapidly revealing emerald stained-glass underneath; a mosaic of teen Blondie appeared to be sleeping with a pale, soot-black-haired, slightly older version of Spiky (in a bizarre outfit) sleeping opposite him with both holding a unique sword that vaguely resembled a key, laying in a manner very reminiscent of Yin and Yang.

Behind Blondie's head was a bright background of some tower against a pretty Sunrise/Sunset, Soot's far darker one consisting of some sort of wasteland with broken 'swords'.

The brunette boy then looked up and watched as the 'birds' soared away into darkness.

 ** _KINGDOM HEARTS: ESTRANGED SOULS_**

* * *

 **Episode 1. My Own Heart**

* * *

She was falling headfirst. Falling… through an abyss of darkness.

"Where am I?" the youngster's soft voice questioned, but no answer came.

All was silent.

She slowly flipped backwards into a sprawled out position, and lifted her head. Cerulean blue eyes saw nothing above either. Just pitch-black darkness that felt almost like water but not quite.

The girl was descending onto a round platform of some sorts, though she could not see it with the lack of light. Finishing becoming upright as her pale blue and white sneaker hit the platform, she stood with bent knees and looked around. Trying to see something, **anything**!

Taking a step forward, the girl received a surprise. Shielding her round face with skinny, pale arms, she avoided being blinded by the sudden light as hundreds of bird-like things flew off the platform starting from where she stood.

The girl looked first around herself as the 'birds' vanished into the abyss one by one, then up ahead as if she would find answers there. The last dozen disappeared from sight.

Her gaze then lowered to the bright platform, and she saw a mosaic of a girl around her age. The picture's young teen appeared to be sleeping with her head slightly bowed, hands clutching a star-shaped item made of seashells to her chest. She was wearing a black choker, a lavender wristband next on her left upper arm near the shoulder, a silver teardrop pendant, a form-fitting white tank-top tipped with black, yellow armbands on each of her wrists, a lavender miniskirt with a slit on each side, matching minishorts underneath, a belt around her waist in a darker shade of lavender, and rather large white shoes tipped with lavender. Her messy mop of dark red hair reached beside her chin, almost glowing through the darkness. The background showed a tropical island.

Walking around the platform, the girl who had fallen looked at the image curiously. She noticed the edge of the circular platform was black, light coming from the whitish star-shaped object repeatedly etched throughout the black ring. And, starting near the mosaic girl's knees and ending at the rim of the platform, was a darker lavender circle. Inside it were four pale lavender circles containing a person's face and shoulders each – a boy with spiky, every-which-way hair; another boy with straight, shoulder-length hair; a young woman with messy, chin-length hair that had downward spikes at the back; and lastly…

"Me…" the girl whispered, puzzled. For the last person had her round face and her messy hair, the latter resting to the right shoulder most of the time as it was in real life. Only, the image-her was completely pale lavender like the other three.

She wandered closer. When the snow-blonde reached the middle of the platform, a pedestal of pale grey marble suddenly rose from the glass slightly behind her to the left. She whirled around to look at it in surprise, and saw from the corner of her eye another appear almost opposite the first pedestal. One more appeared behind her, seen because the girl looked over her shoulder.

As she gazed at the pedestals forming an imaginary triangle around herself, the young teen solemnly murmured: "A power sleeps within me…" She looked confused again. "Wait, what? Why would I say that?"

She walked towards the pedestal which had been first to appear. On it, floating, was a dark green armband with the steel blade of a broadsword sticking out of it. The girl took the armband and its attached sword, looking them over. She had a feeling that the sword would usually remain in hidden-mode, not brought out of the armband unless needed.

 _The power of the soldier… Brute strength… The sword for endurance…_

The girl frowned. "How do I know that?"

With a shrug, she put the sword back. She went to the second pedestal, which had a thick, dark orange chopstick with a sharp black stone attached to one end floating on it. The snow-blonde took it in her hands, noticing a small dent that seemed to be a button of some sort. She had a hunch that pressing it would make the stone shoot off, while releasing it would call it back by a magnetic mechanism.

 _The power of the assassin… Cold-blooded accuracy… The wand to kill and heal…_

The girl at once dropped the wand back to its pedestal, looking a little afraid. "That's… that's awful!"

She went to the final pedestal, on which a pair of toffee brown fingerless gloves with steel knuckles floated. The 14-year-old – yes, she was fourteen even though she looked a year or two younger – picked the final item up.

 _The power of the fighter… Graceful agility in battle… The gloves of precision…_

"I don't know…" The girl put them back, and turned around looking at each option indecisively. Eventually, she nodded firmly.

Going over to the gloves, the girl picked them up and put them on. The gloves vanished in a sparkle of silvery lights. She turned around in surprise, seeing the other two items vanish in the same sparkle. Then each platform started to – for lack of a better word – **melt** into the glass. Very soon they were gone.

Fear filled the girl when she saw the glass rapidly begin to shatter from the edge until cracks appeared beneath her and she fell along with the breaking glass, through the hollow inside of the platform.

By some miracle not cutting herself, the girl had her mouth open but no screams came out as she fell; the bits of glass vanishing into darkness.

Her headfirst descend slowed when a second platform came to sight, and she gracefully landed on it. Standing in the middle, the blond looked around and saw it was just like the first Station. Only, this one showed a boy maybe a year younger than her.

He was gazing at what would have been the sky had the picture continued on, golden blonde hair in short, windswept spikes. His eyes **matched** hers! The boy was wearing grey fingerless gloves, a black T-shirt, an unzipped teal jean-vest, black and white trainers, and grey pants. This time, the black edge had an emerald star/flower object etched on it repeatedly, the background had a town during Sunset instead of tropical islands, the gigantic circle behind him was bright green, and the people in circles were coloured a much paler emerald. One was the young woman from the previous mosaic, another was a strong-looking young man, a little boy with messy hair (who she was certain was the spiky-haired boy from the earlier Station) and herself as a small child.

The male blond held something in one hand while the other rested on his knee. It was a short, thin-ish sword which resembled a skeleton-key, and he had it in a backhand hold.

Feeling something wet on her cheek, the girl brought up her hand and saw – to her surprise – that she was silently crying. For some reason, seeing the boy's face filled her with yearning to see him in real life and that in turn made her feel very **alone.**

She wiped the tears away with the back of her hand, not understanding what was going on at all.

Abruptly, her shadow (behind her) became much more visible and grew until it was her exact size. It came out of the mosaic, now three-dimensional.

Feeling something about to attack her, the girl whirled around just in time to move her head out of the way of a lilac-tinted black fist. She jumped back, looking warily at the attacker. It looked identical to herself, but was completely black as if it had been made out of nothing but Darkness.

She ran away when Shadow attacked again, gritting her teeth when a follow-up kick connected with her side thus making her bend over with hands on her knees. _That **hurt!** O.K., no more Miss Nice!_

The gloves from before appeared on her hands in the same sparkle they had vanished in, and she rolled away from Shadow. The teen quickly got to her feet, and the fight was on.

Only, she was very clearly a novice. All her hits were weak compared to Shadow, and the blond had trouble avoiding being punched or kicked.

A very powerful one sent the girl skidding across part of the platform, until she came to a stop at the edge with her legs dangling over it. Panicking, she attempted to move forward but her movements caused the youngster to slip further off the platform. Now dangling from the edge with only her arms and upper body keeping her from falling completely into the darkness, the 14-year-old shut her eyes tight as she tried to pull herself back onto the platform. The light beige sketchbook strapped to her back wasn't exactly helping matters!

To her surprise, she suddenly felt something underneath her. _Are those… stairs?_

The young teen opened her eyes and looked down. She was kneeling on colourful glass stairs suspended in air. Turning her head, she saw Shadow approaching.

Without thinking, the girl got up and started running along the stairs descending in a wide arc. Her momentum kept her from slipping off and falling through the abyss again.

She soon came to one more platform. This one showed whom **appeared** to be an older version of the first spiky-haired boy from the lavender platform. He was 15 or 16, with his dark indigo, black and crimson skin-tight, spandex-like full-body suit showing how well-toned he was. He also had on a white hula-skirt(?) with its tips light indigo. The boy had his arms crossed, and head tilted to the side so his pale, heart-shaped face wasn't completely visible. His every-which-way, wild spiky hair was soot black, and the visible eye an unusual colour of molten gold. The background was a wasteland filled with broken swords(?) . The golden blonde from the previous platform (with a piece of armour visible on his shoulder), the little boy from said second Station, the shoulder-length-haired boy from the first Station and the girl's younger self were in the pale crimson circles inside the gigantic blood red one. A strangely **familiar** violet star had been etched repeatedly onto the expected black ring rimming the platform's edge.

The stairs vanished when the girl stepped onto the glass. She wandered around on the third Station, tense as she awaited an attack. None came.

Instead, she saw a very tiny speck of cyan and yellow light appear far away from her. Breath hitching, her pulse quickened at the sight of it. She clutched her yellow star pendant, which hung by a thin silver chain around her neck, slowly making her way towards the speck.

She reached out to touch it, and when she did so the speck grew into what appeared to be a glowing crystal ball that fit snugly into her gloved palm. It had gaps where shards of it were still broken, lost somewhere. But it **had** been healing.

Letting go of her good-luck charm, the girl cupped her palms and held the crystal ball. No, that wasn't quite right. It just seemed like a crystal ball, but definitely wasn't one. There even were wisps radiating from it a little!

 **"Mine…"** As if in a trance, she pressed the strange entity to her chest.

Next thing the snow-blonde knew, everything went white.

* * *

A.N.: Whatcha think?

At first, the gloves were supposed to come first and the last item was going to be a silver staff or a katana, but I decided those are still too similar to Sora's choices. A bow would have been my next third item, but I figured the assassin's wand had a long-range use already so I'd rather not have another that's long range. Hence the Wolverine-style sword in place of the shield.

By the way, she picked the gloves because I always picked the sword when playing Kingdom Hearts a couple years ago. That, and chances are I'd have picked the gloves anyway. What would you readers have chosen?

P.S. Skeleton-keys are the kind that have teeth at one end, a part you hold onto at the other end and a tiny metal stick in the middle. And apologies for constantly referring to the main character as just 'the girl'. There is a good reason for that.

P.P.S. No, the spiky-haired guy in circles and the spiky-haired guy on a platform actually are NOT the same one. They just look identical when the same age.

* * *

Cyber cookie to anybody who figures out, by the time Ep15 is up, why I changed the first few Episodes' titles to the current ones they have. Hint, hint; compare 'em to each others' and think about what they all have in common with "anti-Yensid". (I mean that last bit **literally** but NOT in an against-Yensid-the-wizard way!)


	2. Episode 2

**Episode 2. Two Worlds**

* * *

Darkness faded into sky blue, as if someone was opening their eyes. After several minutes, the person's eyes stayed open long enough to see that they were laying on grass, in a big forest clearing. (Most of the trees were those kinds that had needle-like leaves.)

The girl sat up, looking around groggily. She noticed an orange-red brick wall next to her, and realized she was in front of black metal gates that were the entrance to a mansion. It looked like no-one had lived in it for quite some time, though.

She got to her feet, attention still on her surroundings. Something dark red came to her vision, prompting the girl to grab it and pull. _Ow!_ She let go at once. _Is this… my hair? It's shorter, and the wrong colour!_

Looking down, she gaped at the differences in her clothing – the sleeveless, form-fitting, black-tipped white tank-top was definitely different from her own white, less tight one; she didn't have on a short-sleeved, sky blue jacket; and in her baggy beige shorts' place were minishorts and a miniskirt. Even her sneakers had been replaced by slightly unusual shoes!

In a panic, the now-redhead looked herself over. "No!"

She clutched at her throat; that wasn't her voice! Pushing that concern to the back of her mind for now, the girl checked again. Nope, still the same. Only a plain black choker around the neck accompanied by a teardrop pendant. No white leather straps holding something against her back. Just two pockets on the shorts, no pens in them. "They're **gone**! My good-luck charm! My sketchbook!"

Her sole possessions, GONE. The only thing she found was a star-shaped object made from narrow, pinkish-white seashells with the tips looking sort of frayed. A smiley face had been drawn on it, and it was attached to a thin silver chain not unlike her own. But this one was only a few inches long with a circle at the other end. She dropped it as if burned.

Hands gripping hair, the girl exclaimed: "What's **happened** to me?!"

Eventually, her panic subsided. She picked up the good-luck charm (the star amulet had been hers, so it made sense this shell-made star was the other girl's), re-pocketed it, and started walking towards the forest. "Hopefully I will find out what's going on…"

The forest was slightly dark from lack of Sunlight coming through past the thickness. The girl looked around nervously, a little creeped out.

After a short while, she found a hole in a light grey stone wall – which served as an opening out of the forest to a street. The youngster looked around once she'd crawled through, quickly realizing this was a town. And, judging from the Sunset and some people being outside, the time was early evening.

Walking around, the girl came to the town square. She looked at her reflection on one darker window, muttering: "I'm definitely not in my own body."

However, something about that sentence (besides the obvious) felt wrong, though she couldn't think of what. The girl studied her reflection curiously with fingers entwined near 'her' middle, head tilted to the side. Besides everything else visually different between her and the body's true owner, she was a good two or three inches taller now.

At least the eyes looked almost the same, though a closer scrutiny made her note that these ones were much more like the deeper sea than her own cerulean waves reflecting the sky.

Feeling a little exposed, she decided to buy pale lavender jeans that were behind one shop's window. _First I need to earn some munny._

Hearing shouts and laughter, the girl halfway turned around to see a trio of young teenagers approaching. One had short-cropped, slightly curly snow-blonde hair, another had light-ish brown hair in a braid that reached a little past her shoulder, and the last had short-cropped, very dark brown hair and brown eyes. The first two were same age as the unusual girl, while the third was either younger by a few years or just plain short (not to mention on the chubby side). All three wore casual clothes suitable for late spring, summer and early autumn.

The male blond let out a yell of triumph as he reached the kiosk seconds before the brunette girl. The shorter boy groaned loudly once he reached them, complaining between his panting: "Aw man! … I… lost… again. So… not faeh… air…!"

"Cheer up, Pence! I've been helping around the house lately for extra allowance. My treat this time," blondie replied, then turned to look at the unfamiliar teen he had noticed from the corner of his dark chocolate eyes. "Who's **she**? I've never seen her in Twilight Town."

"Don't know. Think she just moved here or is visiting?" chubby boy said, glancing at the redhead curiously.

"And boys think girls gossip too much," the girl murmured, rolling her grass green eyes. She set off towards the newcomer with a friendly smile.

Spotting the other girl approaching, the redhead looked at her with inquisitive navy blue eyes – as if she had not seen another human being for years.

"Hi, I'm Olette. Did your family recently move here?"

A confused look was the only answer she received.

With a nervous chuckle, Olette gave an uncertain little wave of her hand. "Umm, hello? What's your name?"

"…Kairi." The reply was so softly said, the brunette had to strain her senses to hear it.

"Oh, okay. So then, umm, **Kairi** , you are new to this town, raaah-ight?" Loud enough to be heard but uncertainly, 'Kairi' responded with a yes. "Right. A-nyways, I was wondering if you would like to, you know, have some ice cream?" Towards the end of her on-the-spot question, Olette started to regret not thinking this through. Then again, she hadn't expected the new girl to be so peculiar, either!

Cocking 'her' head, the body-swapped female glanced over Olette's shoulder at the boys curiously before giving a little nod. Lips quirking into a half-smile, she quietly replied: "Sure. Thank you, Olette."

A group of five people ranging in age from 9 to 17 years old were walking nearby. Spotting the quartet by the kiosk, the teenaged leader with a small hat covering most of his short-cropped, platinum blonde hair stopped and frowned. Then, with a cocky smirk, he waved a hand at his posse – silently signalling them to wait here – before leaving them to approach his rival.

"So, Hayner, how's it goin'?" newcomer asked. Kairi blinked in surprise at his small scar.

The younger blond glared, scowling in dislike. "Bugger off, Seifer."

Said teen placed a hand over his heart in mock-hurt. "And here I thought, after everything, we could be 'friends'." Seifer smirked at the last word.

Hayner threw a right hook, but it only took bending backwards a bit for Seifer's face to avoid the punch. He then elbowed Hayner in the gut, sending the smaller boy airborne with a pained grunt from him before a loud 'thump' signified his back connecting with the light brown pavement.

"Hayner!" his best friends exclaimed, rushing to the blond's side. Pence helping him sit up, Hayner held his middle while gritting his teeth in pain. Olette glared up at Seifer. "You jerkface! Why don't you pick on someone your own age?!" she cried out in fury.

The pale 16-year-old threw his head back while letting out a sharp, arrogant laugh: " **Ha**! That washout asked for it." He smirked over a shoulder at his approaching friends.

The oldest, with a tan and short-cropped dark hair, commented: "Man, Seifer, that was a cool move, ya know?"

The second shortest one, and only girl, agreed with a "Replay!" that did not change her boredly blank expression. The child of the group nodded, his amber eyes locked onto Seifer in admiration. He had literally black skin, wore a big, pointed hat on his hairless head and appeared to not be a human like his companions.

Turning his head to address the trio again, Seifer continued: "Besides, you three losers couldn't handle things around here anyways. It's up to the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee to keep things in check so we won't have another 'situation' in our hands."

Kairi, whose face had been blank in confusion until then, frowned as she carefully asked: "Why are you being so mean?"

"What, new girl's got a backbone after all? And here I thought you were mute." Seifer shrugged. "Whatever. I ain't got time to bother with you lot."

He turned on his heel, raising a hand to push Kairi's shoulder. Unfortunately for Seifer, she instinctively shifted 'her' body to avoid it. Losing his balance and tripped by a foot of Kairi's accidentally in his way, the bigger teen fell flat on his face.

The redhead watched in bewilderment as Hayner and Pence laughed, Olette let out an "Hmph! Serves him right", and Seifer's friends helped him up.

"You'll pay for that, new kid!" With that parting shout from Seifer, the gang walked off.

Kairi stared at them before looking at the trio blankly, greatly amusing them unintentionally when she softly wondered aloud: "Is he always angry?"

* * *

That night, in a whole other World, a lightly tanned young boy was laying on a bed fully dressed in his baggy red jumpsuit (sleeveless, its wide legs barely reaching his knobby knees). Over it he had a black hoodie that was unzipped and had short white sleeves, its inside blue. On his hands were white fingerless gloves, with a blue strap and a metallic ring on the back of each. His feet were covered by large yellow shoes, a blue belt around his waist.

Spiky, every-which-way chocolate brown hair rested on two white pillows, the 14-year-old oblivious to where he was and with whom.

 ** _Opening his light blue eyes, the youngster blinked briefly at the matching sky as the Sun shone down from it. He sat up staring at the ocean before him, then began to lay back down on the sand with a yawn._**

 ** _A head popped into his field of vision. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, jumping fully awake. Twisting his body so he was on his knees facing the laughing redhead, the male teenager retorted exasperatedly: "Gimme a break, Kairi."_**

 ** _"Sora, you lazy bum!" she replied in a voice completely different from the one not-Kairi_** _originally **had, though her friendly tone and amused smile showed the words were not meant as hurtful. And Sora had a thick skin anyway. "I knew that I'd find you snoozing here."**_

 ** _"No!" Sora objected, his shield-fight with_** _his_ _own_ _sh_ _adow_ ** _on the weird mosaic platform of the two boys flashing through his mind. "This huge, black_** _thing **swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't– Ow!"**_

 ** _Kairi had just hit him in the head. Not seeming in the least apologetic, she asked: "Are you still dreaming?"_**

 ** _"It wasn't a dream! Or was it? I don't know. What was that place? So bizarre…"_**

 ** _"Yeah, sure." Kairi took a few steps forward as she said this, sounding as though she did not believe him about the dream being anything out the usual. The young girl folded her arms behind her back and walked forward in front of Sora looking at the ocean._**

 ** _"Say Kairi, what was your hometown like?" the brunette asked. "You know, where you lived before coming here."_**

 ** _Kairi didn't look back at him as she answered: "I've told you before; I don't remember."_**

 ** _"Nothing at all?"_**

 ** _"Nothing."_**

 ** _"You ever wanna go back?"_**

 ** _The redhead considered the question. "Well, I'm happy here."_**

 ** _"Really…"_**

 ** _"But you know…" She still held her gaze to the ocean. "I wouldn't mind going to see it."_**

 ** _"I'd like to see it too!" Sora said excitedly from where he was sitting, "Along with any other worlds out there! I wanna see 'em all!"_**

 ** _Kairi turned towards him with a small grin. "So what are we waiting for?"_**

 ** _"Hey," someone called, stepping towards them as he asked: "Aren't you guys forgetting about me?"_**

 ** _Both Sora and Kairi turned around to see a pale boy about a year older than them, judging from the several inches' height difference between him and the two 14-year-olds. He had on baggy blue pants attached to his yellow (from front) and black (from back), form-fitting sleeveless top by black straps. Black gloves covered the teen's hands, his blue and white shoes slightly smaller than Sora's yellow ones and the same size as Kairi's white and lavender ones._**

 ** _Straight, naturally silvery hair reached his shoulders, the boy carrying a large bag underneath his right arm. "So, I guess I'm the only one preparing for the trip." He swung the heavy bag to an unsuspecting Sora and walked towards Kairi._**

 ** _"And you're just as lazy as he is," the male teenager reprimanded in a teasing tone. Kairi giggled._**

 ** _"So you've noticed, have you, Riku?" As he plopped down next Sora, the redhead exclaimed: "Okay, we'll finish together."_**

 ** _Pointing at the boys, she challenged: "I'll race you!"_**

 ** _"Huh?" Sora had just been about to settle back down; that bizarre dream had been_** _tiring **.**_

 ** _Riku was up for a break too. "What, are you kidding?"_**

 ** _"Ready?" Kairi asked, not waiting for an answer as she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted: "Go!"_**

 ** _The boys shared a glance, then at once jumped forward._**

 ** _As the trio of best friends raced across the sand towards a simple wooden bridge connecting the nearby mini-island to the main one, Kairi soon fell behind Sora and Riku. All three had smiles plastered on the face as they raced underneath the bridge to another part of the island._**

 ** _An island part of the collection that formed Destiny Islands._**

"Come on, lazy bum. Wake up." Kairi's voice rung through the air.

Groaning, Sora slowly sat up on the forest green duvet of the bed. His eyes groggily opened as he begun to awaken. Before him seemed to be Kairi, standing with her hands resting on her hips.

"You okay?" she asked, leaning forward. Was it just him or had she grown taller by a head?

Sora remained momentarily silent before responding: "…I guess."

"Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade. But it's your heart they really want," 'Kairi' explained, straightening, "because you wield the Keyblade."

Sora stared up at her, not understanding a word. Nevertheless, relief flooded him upon seeing at least one of his best friends was safe and sound. "I'm so glad you're okay, Kairi."

"Kairi?" the girl repeated, voice changing from how Sora had thought it sounded. "Who are you talking about? **I'm** the great ninja Yuffie."

"Huh?"

Sora blinked, and his female friend's image became fuzzy before changing to show a pale girl around Riku's age, maybe a couple years older. She had a messy mop of black hair, but the style was noticeably different from Kairi's dark red one and seemed a bit thicker. A green tube top that did nothing to hide her bellybutton and was held up by blue straps, a matching belt holding up the pale beige minishorts, white socks that reached mid-thigh, thin and grey lacy armbands, a yellow scarf, a thin strip of cloth pale grey from age tied to her head, orange-brown fingerless leather gloves and matching shoes made up her attire.

She leaned down closer to Sora again, hands on her bent knees and indigo eyes concerned. "I think you might've overdone it, Squall," Yuffie Kisaragi said, turning partially towards a man in his late 20s as he walked into the green room.

Clad in a dark gray leather jacket (with an image of tiny red angel wings printed on the back and its sleeves rolled up to reveal well-toned peachy arms), black jeans (that had a tiny metallic chain or two) and grey leather gloves, the adult with brown hair moved to lean against a very short stretch of wall. A large scar ran across his face beneath the observant electric blue eyes, prompting Sora to silently wonder where he had received it from.

"That's Leon," the grown-up corrected in a deep, somewhat monotone voice.

Sora looked from the brunette to the ravenette, then noticed his weird key-sword propped up against the wall between the bed and the older male. _Kingdom Key…_ "Huh? W-where am I?"

Yuffie was the one to answer Sora: "Traverse Town; the motel in Second District, to be more specific."

"You and I fought for the Keyblade, remember?" Squall Leónhart – or, as he preferred, Leon – reminded him.

"The Keyblade…" Sora murmured, looking at Kingdom Key. _So **that's** what it's called. Kingdom Key the Keyblade._

Yuffie strutted forward. "Yeah. We had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures." She stopped when she was at Leon's side. Putting her hands on her hips, Yuffie continued: "It turns out, that's how they were tracking you."

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them," Leon said, crossing his arms. "But it won't work for long." Sora's gaze lifted from the ground to him. "Still, hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one…" the man murmured, picking up the Keyblade and examining it.

Mere seconds passed before it shone. In a sparkle of silvery light, it disappeared and reappeared right in Sora's hand. "Whoa!" the spiky-haired teen exclaimed.

Leon approached him. "Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers."

Sora's face changed from shock and wonder to serious. With a hardened gaze in his light blue eyes, he stared up at Leon. "Why don't you start making sense! What's going on here?"

* * *

For a week and a half, the stray girl did a dozen odd jobs around Twilight Town from dawn to dusk each day. Poster spreading, mail delivering, walking dogs, babysitting, etc. She spent as little as possible on sandwiches and juice – her current, meagre diet – during that time to save up for more lasting purchases. And when night came, she would climb to a shorter building's roof and wrap herself in the yellow duvet she had borrowed from a laundry line (fully intending to give it back at some point), resting in a corner. Thank heavens the summer nights were relatively warm!

Whenever the nameless girl (it was not easy to think of herself as Kairi, although it **did** get better after the first couple days) had a free moment, Hayner, Olette and Pence insisted she hang out with them. Her loneliness easing at their generosity and kindness, she found that living in Twilight Town was rather nice. **Almost** like home…

On the eleventh day, Kairi finally had enough savings to buy a pair of the jeans in pale lavender as well as a light blue pair, some underwear, a white T-shirt and a small pink bag (there hadn't been a blue or a yellow one). She happily went around with the miniskirt over her new jeans, the bag around 'her' waist containing the change of clothes in the main pocket easily thanks to expanded-space fabric its inside had been lined with – which, having cost more than all the clothes put together, had been very expensive seeing as those did not come by often. All of her 8000 munny was now completely gone.

Olette joined Kairi during the shopping trip, buying herself an orange buttoned-up T-shirt with some white flowers on it. "It's a few sizes too big to wear now, but at least I will have something nice next summer," the brunette said as she placed the folded shirt onto the cash register.

As the girls exited the second clothing shop, Kairi noticed that one house's windows had all been barred. "Who lives there?" she asked Olette curiously, interrupting the other teen. (The trio's friendship had eventually made her open up and speak at a more normal volume.)

"Oh, that place? The residents just up and vanished during a strange storm nine years ago. After everything that's happened here, the new mayor made sure poor Mrs Lani Strife's home was kept exactly how it had been before we had to renovate. But it's been as abandoned as that horrible mansion…"

"Oh." However, Kairi couldn't help but feel as though there was much more to it than those cryptic words. Why did she feel such a terrible ache in her heart at the name?

Shaking her head a bit, Kairi sped up to a jog in order to catch up to Olette – never knowing that the short run was done in a manner completely different from when 'she' raced with arms spread wide back on Destiny Islands.

Later that day, while Olette went off to join her best friends at their usual spot, the blue-eyed girl wandered around town for some time after returning an excitable puppy she had walked for its busy owners in order to earn enough money to buy a small lunch with change left over. There had been a brief encounter with a lanky blond dog that had floppy black ears and a matching thin tail, but it had soon left the town; probably to return wherever it came from.

Looking at the good-luck charm in her palm, Kairi silently wondered who it – and the body – belonged to. Maybe she could find that other girl…?

"Hey, Kairi!" Looking ahead, the redhead pocketed the good-luck charm and waited for a running Hayner to reach her.

She smiled, clasping her hands behind her back. "Hi, Hayner. What's the hurry?"

"The annual Struggle Tournament is on at the end of next week! Come on!" Without waiting for a response, the other snow-blond grabbed her arm and started running back in the direction he came from.

"Ah! **Hayner**! What are you even talking about?"

"All the best Strugglers in town are going to compete in the tournament. And I plan on winning it!"

"Didn't you say the tournament is next week? What's the hurry?"

"The announcement came ten minutes ago at the sandlot. If we don't hurry, everybody else will take all of the Struggle Bats and we won't get to practice!"

"Oh. … Wait, WE?!"

Arriving at the sandlot, they saw Pence and Olette waving to them from one corner. The latter cupped her hands around her mouth, calling out "Hayner! Kairi!" before waving again with one hand.

Hayner let the redhead's lower arm go, grinned at his best friends and rushed over to where available Struggle Bats were. Only three were left now.

Cradling her arm, Kairi walked over to the two brunettes. "Hi. Is Hayner **always** like this?"

Olette gave her an apologetic look. "When it comes to the Struggle Tournament, yes. I don't suppose you are going to compete?"

Kairi bit her lip. "It would be fun, I suppose…" She then smiled ruefully, eyes showing she was more amused than sorry. "But I'm not much of a fighter."

"You might want to rethink that," Pence said, pointing behind her.

Kairi halfway turned around, and saw Hayner approaching with not one but **two** Struggle Bats. The one in his right hand was light blue with a pale orange hilt and guard, the other identical but without the guard.

"Here, you can use this one." Hayner held out the second struggle bat with a friendly smile. "I was lucky to get these; now Vini's got no choice but to use the one with a star at the end. Or not compete, I don't really care which."

"Er… Thanks." Kairi took the bat and swung it experimentally.

"I signed us both up, too. One of us is sure to win next week!"

"Hayner, did you even think to **ask** if Kairi wants to compete?" Olette said, frowning with her hands on her hips.

Hayner gave his closest female friend an incredulous look. "Of course she'll want to compete! Didn't you see how well she handled Seifer?"

Kairi smiled sheepishly, saying: "Actually, that was pure luck."

"Some luck," Pence muttered, a little jealous. He then smiled up at the redhead. "Hey, Kairi, you're always doing odd jobs, right? Well, the winner of The Struggle Tournament gets a cool trophy and 50 000 munny. That'd set you up for a while."

"Good point, Pence." Olette grinned. Turning to Kairi, she added: "You could have more time for relaxing; you've been working too hard, Kairi."

Swinging his Struggle Bat experimentally and looking like he only half paid attention o the others' conversation, Hayner asked: "Why **do** you, anyway? Don't your parents give you an allowance?"

"Ow!" Olette had just smacked him over the head.

"That's rude," she reprimanded her close friend again. "It's Kairi's decision if she wants to tell us or not."

Ignoring his best friends' mini-argument, Pence gave the confused redhead a concerned look. "Never mind that. So, do you wanna compete with Hayner?"

A shrug from Kairi was the answer. "Sure. How hard can it be?"

* * *

A.N.: I edited a few details from canon so it'd make more sense. E.g. "where you grew up" became "where you lived before coming here" because (in this story) Kairi grew up on Destiny Islands the **latter** half of her whole life and Sora was referring to the **first** seven years of her life.

By the way, Twilight Town is NOT in a constant state of Sunset, coz that makes no sense, and Traverse Town does NOT look like it's constantly night.

Changed my mind. 'Kairi' and Sora are NOT on the same World at all! But I do still plan on the Worlds being more like Earth, except with the planets(?) being a little smaller. Each one consists of three Disney (or Kingdom Hearts, or Final Fantasy) worlds in one.

E.g. Traverse Town and another certain canon K.H. place being on the same planet in the Realm Between much like Nobodies' World That Never Was (which is its own World since it is big enough).

 ** _IMPORTANT NOTICE:_** Canon is my guideline, but there will are gonna be looots of changes in-story – be they small details here 'n' there or whole plot points occurring on new Worlds. So, if I don't make any clear reference to something that was in the original _'Kingdom Hearts'_ 1, assume it did **NOT** happen.


	3. Episode 3

**Episode 3. A Whole New World**

* * *

Whilst 'Kairi' was waking up in front of the gate of Twilight Town's abandoned mansion...

The girl who was not Kairi fell from the night sky covered in black smoke. She remained unconscious despite her impact upon a field of grass, the smoke fading. There was no crater, nor had she been injured. That smoke had **protected** her body from all harm.

Her eyelids fluttered open, revealing the cerulean blue eyes rather than Kairi's navy blue ones. The snow-blonde slowly sat up, just as she had done in Twilight Town, and took in her surroundings with a look of confusion. She shrugged off the straps holding her sketchbook on her back, then set about drawing the hills, the open fields, and occasional bushes and trees. Not to mention the **strange** castle in the distance.

Blowing a lock of her hair, the girl was finished capturing the night-time view surprisingly well. Almost as if her vision was not impaired by the darkness as much as it should've been...

With a soft smile, she packed her things away. Tiredness took over as the girl patted the grass and settled down to sleep. Certain two boys' faces flashed in her mind as she clutched the good-luck charm, one of them with soot black hair and the other's being coloured golden blonde. The latter's peachy, heart-shaped face made a tear trickle down the girl's own pale cheek.

Never knowing this was because a certain boy named Sora awakened at that moment on the other side of this same World, beside a wooden crate in an alleyway of Traverse Town.

* * *

On a whole other World, one so broken that the only civilization left was an unusual-looking castle amongst floating rocks and cold waterfalls…

Riku was laying on his stomach atop one of said rocks, its smooth, circular top exactly like a cobbled street. He groaned, getting up into a crawling position before rising to his feet. Daylight shone through the fog above.

Looking around, the silverette called out: "SORA! KAIRI!"

No answer. **_Great_** , Riku thought sarcastically. He took in the peculiar surroundings, that bizarre dream he had a few minutes ago already fading from his mind.

The 15-year-old had his back to the castle, and so never learned a dark figure with a scepter was watching him. As he turned around, the observer had already left in a blaze of neon green flames. "Maybe I'll find some answers in that place..."

Riku then started leaping from one floating rock (which was much smaller than the first one and lacked its pavement) to another, until he reached a rock exactly like the first save for having a stone archway as well as a couple stone pillars.

Cyan eyes looked at the castle, for it was **much** closer now but still a ways off, in curiosity.

* * *

The 3 weeks 'Kairi' spent in Twilight Town working then training, Sora was experiencing new things **so** fast it was a wonder he could keep track of it all in his Journal!

It all started in Traverse Town, Sora waking up beside a wooden crate in an alley to a dog named (according to the metallic nametag on its green collar) Pluto licking his face. He then glanced around, led by the canine to a mechanic's shop with only stars, a crescent moon and the streetlamps lighting everybody's way through the night. Thus Sora met a rather grumpy, blond middle-aged man named Cid Highwind, whose new wife (and assistant) Shiera warmly welcomed Sora and gave a compassionate smile as she invited him to eat a late supper with them. The spiky-haired teen then slept for what was left of that night.

Just as the sky was lightening as it turned a soft pale pink and tangerine upon the break of dawn, Shiera offered Sora a simple breakfast and to show the young boy where the nearest of the local motels was. But Pluto chose that moment to run off.

Sora ran after the dog, mere moments later lost in the unfamiliar town and no longer seeing the runaway dog anywhere. Deciding Pluto must have gone back to his owners now that he'd watched over Sora while the teen was sleeping, the brunette walked towards a restaurant in the First District in hope of someone there knowing Cid and Shiera or having seen Riku and Kairi.

That was when he encountered Leon. A scuffle with said young man – whom had wanted Sora to hand over the Keyblade, to which he had responded to with a defensive "You're not getting this!" as a feeling in his chest told the lost boy that the key-shaped sword was very important – ended with the 14-year-old losing his consciousness after getting hit in the face by a fireball; although, when he woke up inside one of the Second District motels' guestroom a few hours later, Sora had no burns as a reminder of that.

Then Leon and Yuffie explained what they knew of the strange shadowy creatures, called Heartless, and some grownup known as Ansem the Wise. But then there was a really, really big armoured Heartless attacking the Third District. Civilians had already evacuated hurrying through a set of giant double doors to the much safer parts of Traverse Town. The trio worked together to take it down; Sora and Leon attacking in close range with their Keyblade and Gunblade respectively, while an annoyingly cheery Yuffie mostly kept up defence from a distance through her several four-pointed, straight Shurikens as well as one giant, six-pointed one.

Sora took a breather seconds after the Guard Armour Heartless had been slain – too busy panting with his hands on knees to notice neither the reddish violet Heart that floated away nor something above the small group that prompted Leon's impassive expression become a bit more brooding and Yuffie to stare upwards wide-eyed.

At the sound of yelling, the spiky-haired teen looked up. His attempt at running out of the two falling bodies' way was futile, all three concussioned for several minutes after impact.

Once the dizziness faded, the strange pair noticed the weapon in Sora's gloved hand. "The Key!"

Next a brief round of introductions, decisions and a promise were made. Which brought the odd trio – of a human boy, an anthropomorphic duck and likewise dog – to where they currently were.

" **Sora**!" Donald Duck called after the youngster, scowling from annoyance. Behind him, Goofy chuckled good-naturedly. The scene kinda reminded him of home, back when Maxie, P.J., Pistol and Roxanne or the Duck triplets and Webby would get up to some mischief.

Sora was running across the chequered courtyard of Third District, happily exploring the place under daylight.

After a group breakfast in the restaurant at First District, the young woman whose brown hair was tied in a pair of shoulder-length braided pigtails with a pink ribbon at the end of each – she had been the one to give Donald and Goofy a room in the motel last night, then explained about Ansem and the Heartless at daybreak while her friends did the same with Sora – had offered to check with Cid to ensure the Gummi Ship used by Donald and Goofy, as well as all their supplies, were good to go. Yuffie volunteered to help Aerith, Leon tagging along to keep an eye on the young ninja.

Thereby leaving a certain boy named Sora free to wander in his first ever visit to a whole new World, Donald and Goofy attempting to supervise the happy-go-lucky teen in case another extra-large Heartless attacked Traverse Town. Luckily, so far the only creatures of Darkness had been the little ones – named Shadows and Soldiers despite the latter being about as tall as Donald; the former, however, coming up to Sora's waist – as well as a brief encounter with a vaguely-humanoid, rather pointed silver-white creature that neither residents of Disney Castle were certain even **was** a Heartless.

"Hey, what's back here?" Sora asked his new travelling companions over a shoulder, resting one hand against a ginger door decorated by golden runes. It was located in a hidden nook at one corner of Third District.

Goofy held his elbow with the free gloved hand tapping the side of his head as he replied: "Gawrsh, I think it's the home of a magician of some sort."

Sky blue eyes blinked. " **Magic** 's real too?!"

Donald rolled his coal-coloured eyes with arms crossed. "Of course, it's real! **I** am a powerful wizard and the Royal Sorcerer of Disney Castle." The clothed, giant white duck looked smug towards the end of his declaration, somehow seeming to stand tall despite only reaching his new charge's chest height-wise.

"U-huh…" Sora looked at the door again, frowning in thought. _Could whoever lives here help me find Riku, Kairi, all my other friends and my parents?_

'SHING!' The Keyblade suddenly appeared in his right hand. Sora looked from it to the door (which lacked a doorknob and keyhole) in confusion.

 _"Tap the door."_

"Huh? Who's there?" The spiky-haired youngster glanced around, even turning to face Donald and Goofy but still saw nobody.

"Sora, are you all right?" Goofy asked in concern. Donald's eyes narrowed suspiciously and the duck at once enlarged his wand/staff so he was prepared to cast protective spells if they were ambushed.

The brunette shook his head to clear it. "I'm fine. Lets go!" His cheerful smile back, Sora gently tapped the door with Kingdom Key's crown-teeth. It cracked open and he pushed it fully so while walking through.

They had only taken a dozen steps when the trio spotted a – for lack of a better term – swamp in front of them. The terrain was more solid than a regular swamp's and the water clearer. Oddly enough, huge stones floated on the water's surface.

"Sora, wait up!" Donald exclaimed angrily as the teen raced forward and leapt onto one of the floating stones. He and Goofy followed a moment later, jumping from one stone to the next as they crossed the murky waters.

As the trio stood on an islet sporting only an old, abandoned-looking round house with stone walls getting grimy, the feathered mage quacked a torrent of swearwords that Sora did not hear – because anyone would be hard-pressed to properly make sense of what came out of Donald's beak right now. As well as Goofy at once covered the 14-year-old's ears when he caught some of what was being shouted, giving his close friend a reproachful look.

Red-faced, Donald panted once he was done. His taller companion waited until the furious blush faded before he stopped muffling Sora's hearing. He took a step back and let his wizard buddy grumpily talk.

"Sora," Donald ground out, visibly trying to not resume shouting, "we just passed two Wards."

A puzzled look was all he received in response.

Sorely tempted to facepalm, Donald took a deep breath and tried to recall when he had regained custody of his nephews back home. "Look, kid, there are different kinds of Magick. One use for it is Warding, protections. A mage, who is able to sense Magic, can tell when a Ward is nearby. You following me so far?"

"Yeah...?"

"Well, there is a Ward on the stones you jumped on. And another around that house."

"Oh. ...What does that mean for us?"

"It means your friend is right to be cautious," an unacquainted voice informed them out of nowhere. All three jumped, looking around for the source of it but saw no-one. Goofy tapped his temple; it sounded kinda familiar! A glance at Donald showed his best friend (besides Mickey, of course) thought the same.

"Where are you?!" said duck demanded, looking around with a glare.

"Right here." A bespectacled elderly person with a long, white beard and dressed in a simple, light blue dress/robe thing suddenly sprouted as though from the ground in front of Sora, prompting the tensed boy to instantly summon his Keyblade and take his usual two-handed, crouched stance.

"Merlin!" the Disney Castle pair exclaimed in recognition.

"Merlin?" Sora murmured with a raised eyebrow. His expression turned annoyed. "Hey, cut it out!"

The elderly wizard was using his wand to poke and push the brunette's limbs, finishing with a harsh prod at Sora's stomach. Merlin tsk'd. "Really, what are children coming to this days? Your stance has half a dozen openings that are easily exploited by an enemy."

Goofy frowned. _He's right! We need to get Sora some trainin' or he will easily get hurt on the journey._

Merlin smiled at him and Donald, jovially greeting the duo followed by asking: "What brings you boys here? I see you have found the 'Key'."

Worryingly, Sora did not jump at the chance to ask about Riku, Kairi, his parents, Tidus, Wakka and Selphie like he did whenever meeting residents of Traverse Town during his wanderings earlier this morning. Donald's heated look lessened in intensity as he noticed this, Goofy looking at the teen anxiously.

"We were jus' wondering who might be living back here," the man-dog answered after a beat of silence, his usual cheerful smile toned down.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Sora looked up at Merlin unusually timidly. "Can... can ya help me find Riku and Kairi? Or my family? Or the rest of my friends?"

The old man shook his head. "My apologies, lad. I know a great many things, but travel through the cosmos without a Star Shard, a Gummi Ship or their equivalents and successfully finding particular individuals without something specifically keyed to them in some way is nigh impossible."

Goofy's chest ached at seeing Sora's shoulders droop and the happy-go-lucky boy's head drop. _Poor Sora... He is even younger than my little Maxie but is going through harsh times. Why couldn't our experienced friends have been here instead!_

Donald's thoughts were along the same lines: _Poor kid. If Huey, Dewey or Louie became a Keyblade's chosen, I'd just say screw it and lock 'em up away from harm. But that is not a real option…_ A determined glint appeared in his dark eyes and the mage pointedly looked at Goofy. The guard understood as he nodded in silent response. They would ensure their new charge was not lost for them like the others…

Pushing his glasses up his nose with a finger while looking at a pocket-watch, Merlin broke the moment's silence: "Well, well." He picked up the bag which had been set down earlier and set off towards the entrance into his home. "You've arrived sooner than I expected."

Sora's sad expression turned into one of utter confusion as he followed the old man. "Wha–?! Y-ya mean, you **knew** we were coming?"

"Of course," the human wizard replied as the small group went through an opening covered up by a thick red tapestry dusty from lack of use, followed by a green one that was cleaner.

"Oh, but we have not been properly introduced, have we? I would lose my head if it weren't screwed on tight..." Merlin mumbled the last part to himself. He stopped, the trio accidentally passing him and so they turned around to face the old man. He held up his wand, setting the bag down for now. "My name is Merlin. As you can see, I am a sorcerer." Said male gave a good-natured chuckle, glancing around the round space. "I spend much of my time travelling. It's good to be home.

And who might you be, young man?"

"Sora?" Goofy asked when the teen did not respond and instead seemed to be looking longingly at the only pieces of wood in this place.

Donald tapped his webbed foot impatiently. "Snap out of it!" He only lasted a minute before losing his temper again, still sore about earlier.

"Huh, wha–?"

Merlin chuckled once again, not minding the brief inattentiveness in the least bit. _Boys will be boys..._ His expression turned mildly serious as he said to the anthropomorphic pair: "Your king has requested my help."

"King Mickey?" Goofy wondered aloud, surprised that his closest friend had run into Merlin. _I suppose it ain't **that** surprising when they are both going from one World to the next._

"Yes, indeed," Merlin confirmed. "His Majesty asked me to train the newest Keyblade wielder in the art of Magick." He opened his bag by the handles, then went and hopped onto the circular stone platform in the middle of the only room. "Ahem; just a moment..."

* * *

Sora missed the whole conversation past Merlin's self-introduction. He was busy turning in shock at hearing Kairi's voice say: "There's something about this musty place..."

She was right there! Starting to walk from the entrance, with her right arm behind her back and holding onto her left one, past Sora. However, the redhead was see-through. Like the last time he saw her, only last night...

 ** _Sora ran into the secret cave he and Riku had found back when they were little, coming to an abrupt stop at the entrance. His eyes widened in horror._**

 ** _Kairi, somehow literally transparent, slowly turned around at the sound of her name. She looked very sick. Her voice was weak as she managed to get out: "So-rah…"_**

 ** _Then the strange, doorknob-free door behind her – now open and emitting a terrifying blackness – let out a burst of dark wind that swept her forward like a puppet with its strings cut._**

 ** _Sora planted his feet firmly, spreading his arms to catch her. To his shock, the redhead went straight through him but there was no time to contemplate that. He found himself flying out of the Secret Place and through the air until he managed to grab hold of wood._**

 ** _Which was of the crooked tree trunk the trio often sat on to watch the Sunset. But broken. Turning his head this way and that as he clung to the splintered wood, the brunette could only think in horror:_** **What's happening to my home?! My island! Riku! Kairi…**

 ** _His fingers pried off the wood, sending the 14-year-old airborne and unknowingly away from the breaking World into a storm of darkness above._**

"It reminds me of the Secret Place back home," Kairi's voice brought Sora back to the present with a jarring clarity. He saw her crossing the room towards a large, boarded-up fireplace, "where we used to scribble on the walls."

Looking at him over her shoulder with that cheery smile he was so familiar with, she asked: "Remember?"

"Kairi?" Sora whispered with a tinge of hope despite the fact she was literally transparent, staring with wide eyes and lifting his hand to reach out to her.

"Sora?" The brunette took his eyes off her only for a **split second** to glance at Goofy, but she was gone by the time he turned back.

His mouth dropped open in horror. _NO! Kairi was right **there** ; where did she go?_ He glanced around frantically but saw no sign of her.

Not even hearing Donald snapping at him, Sora gritted his teeth and blinked back tears. He was so sure she had been real... _Maybe I am hallucinating. I mean, I **did** take a fireball to the face._ His chest felt pressured as he considered whether losing Kairi again after seeing her very briefly or the girl being a figment of his imagination all along was worse.

Sora shook his head, looking ahead to see Merlin raise his hands with the wand held in one. Then, to the 14-year-old's astonishment, he said:

"Higitus Figitus zumbabazing.  
I want your attention, **every** thing!  
We're unpacking. Come on, let's go." The brunette gaped as miniscule objects peeked out of Merlin's bag and the guy himself started singing:

 _"Hockety pockety wockety wack,_ _  
_ _Abra cabra dabra nack._ _  
_ _Grow from size very small;_ _  
_ _We had to save enough room for all._ _  
_ _Higitus figitus migitus mum,_ _  
_ _Presto-digi-toe-nium!"_ The items floated out of the bag one by one, dancing through the air and growing as they did so.

 _"Cicero, you belong to the Cs;_ _  
_ _Alphabetical order please._ _  
_ _Al-e-ca-fez bal-a-ca-zez,_ _  
_ _Malacamez meripides._ _  
_ _Undiminish diminished dictionary,_ _  
_ _Those words in your vocabulary._ _  
_ _Hockety pockety wockety wack,_ _  
_ _That's the way we do unpack._ _  
_ _Higitus figitus migitus mum,_ _  
_ _Presto-digi-toe-nium!"_

A tall armchair picked up Donald during the stanza, causing the drake to jump high up in surprise and land on a floating tome. Goofy tripped on a blue, porcelain sugar holder that seemed to have a bit of an attitude. Sora himself ducked from various objects and ended up getting a short ride from the round pale teal carpet, letting out a hysterical giggle at the utter absurdity of this scene. _  
_ _"Higitus Figitus zoomacazam,_

 _Hockety pockety wockety wack,_ _  
_ _Odds and ends and bric a brac._ _  
_ _Higitus figitus migitus mum,_ _  
_ _Presto-digi-toe-nium._ _  
_ _Higitus figitus migitus mum,_ _  
_ _Presto-digi-toe-nium!"_

Merlin was knocked over by a low light green stool as he finished his song.

The trio let out a relieved breath at the chaos being over, slumping to the ground. They then glanced around and saw the round stone room was now completely furnished. _Whoa, that's a lot of books!_ Sora thought at the huge pile behind the simple bed.

"There now." Merlin turned his attention from the furnishings to the visitors. "Ahem; we can start the Magick training anytime you like, lad. Let me know when you're ready."

Sora looked at his knobby knees. _If I can't even help myself, what hope is there to find Riku and Kairi? … No!_ The brunette's head snapped up, filled with determination as he pushed the grief down to the furthest recess of his mind. _I, I CAN'T give up! They need me! I made a promise to keep my best friends safe._

 ** _A young woman, in her late teens, was standing on the small islet of Destiny Islands where teenaged Sora and Riku often sparred on. Bright blue eyes, ones that brought to mind a rushing river, flicked upwards. She stared at the crooked palm tree bearing yellow, star-shaped fruit._**

 ** _The 17-year-old brought out of her shorts' pocket an object made from sapphire-coloured glass and aluminium wire with a few tiny bits of copper to help keep it together. It had a medium-length silver chain with a clipper at the end, allowing the charm to be worn on the wrist or attached to a belt-loop. It was shaped like a star/flower._**

 ** _She smiled sadly at the charm._** **Strong bonds of friendship keep us together, but our emotions are so** fragile **...**

 ** _"Terra... Ven... I hope we're ready for the storm that's coming."_**

 ** _The moment of silence which followed was broken by the voices of two children:_**

 ** _"Hey, wait up!"_**

 ** _"Too slow, Sora! See ya at the finish line!"_**

 ** _She turned around and saw a pair of 5-8 years old boys running along the beach towards the bridge made from planks that connected the islet to the actual island. One was dressed in white and red, his wild hair chocolate-coloured. The other, a silverette, was clad in yellow and black._**

 ** _They raced underneath the very simple bridge, the silver-haired child raising an arm in victory as he managed to run underneath the bridge and stop between it and a small ramp made from thinner planks that led to the door that was an entrance to the Cove. The brunette stopped a moment later, placing hands on knees as he breathed heavily._**

 ** _The messy-haired child turned to his companion. "One more time! You just got lucky! Huh?" He looked up, shifting to follow the cyan eyes' gaze with his own sky blue ones._**

 ** _The girl walked along the bridge until she was directly above the little boys, watching them with as much curiosity as they stared up at her with._**

 ** _To their surprise, the unfamiliar female jumped down onto the sand and landed on one knee in half of a rowing squat._**

 ** _The brunette scratched the back of his head, giving a nervous but friendly grin as she looked at him._** **Mum says to be wary of strangers...**

 ** _She then looked at the silverette, whom turned his attention from his companion to her._** **This boy looks so sincere. ...Just like Terra. And this one, _the bluenette's gaze returned to the other local,_ he's the spitting image of Ven _. At least personality-wise._**

 ** _Unaware of her thoughts, the boys shared a look of agreement to not yell for the 8-year-old's dad and decided it was okay to talk to the lady– she appeared friendly enough, and reminded them a lot of photos about Riku's mother._**

 ** _The girl let out a small laugh, prompting the boys to exchange a puzzled look. As they turned back to her, she said with a tinge of sadness: "One of you might be special enough..." Her small smile became much more real as she asked in a kind, friendly tone: Hey, you two mind telling me your names?"_**

 ** _The brunette briefly put up his hand, introducing himself: "I'm Sora!"_**

 ** _"And you?"_**

 ** _"...Riku." He bit his lip, gaze briefly flicking downwards._** **You kinda look like Mom.**

 **Someone has already passed this boy the power _, the girl silently realized._ Was it Terra? _"Sora, do you like Riku?"_**

 ** _"Of course I like him! He's my best friend."_**

 ** _"Good. Then if something happened and Riku is about to get lost... Or, say he starts wandering down a dark path alone... You make sure to stay with him and keep him safe. That's your job, Sora, and I'm counting on you to do it._**

 ** _O.K.?" She ruffled their hair, eliciting a giggle from each boy._**

Sora clenched his fists. _They're counting on me..._

* * *

A.N.: By the way (b.t.w.), **NO** munny nor health orbs are gained when a Heartless is destroyed. Just so y'all know...

Couldn't resist adding the song _'Higglety Pigglety'_! I loved it so much in the Sword in Stone movie.

 ** _Bonus_**

Looking out of the Gummi Ship at the vast expanse of outer space, Sora softly sang:

 _"I can now see the worlds._ _  
_ _Shining, shimmering, splendid._ _  
_ _Tell me, my friends, now where are_ _  
_ _You at; my heart aches inside…"_ _  
_  
Wandering into the local train station and noticing an odd purple train, Kairi sang:

 _"I have opened my eyes,_ _  
_ _Taken life wonder by wonder._ _  
_ _Over, sideways and under,_ _  
_ _On a slowly rising tide…"_ _  
_  
Riku couldn't help smiling excitedly as he searched first the cliffs, then the castle entrance hall for his best friends all the while he sang:

 _"A whole new world!_ _  
_ _A new fantastic point of view._ _  
_ _No-one to tell us 'no'_ _  
_ _Or where to go_ _  
_ _Or say we're only dreaming…"_ _  
_  
Kairi joined her new friends atop the town's Clock-Tower, taking a light turquoise iced lolly offered by Hayner and still singing:  
 _"A whole new world!_ _  
_ _A dazzling place I never knew._ _  
_ _But when I'm way up here,_ _  
_ _It's crystal clear_ _  
_ _That now I'm in a whole new world with you…"_ _  
_  
Sora grinned at Donald and Goofy as they trained at the Coliseum, singing:

 _"Now I'm in a whole new world with you…"_ _  
_  
As they carried on exploring, the separated trio were now unknowingly singing in matching turns–  
 _"Unbelievable sights,"_ Riku sang, jumping off a brass griffin statue.  
 _"Indescribable feelings,"_ Kairi added, dancing with her Struggle Bat in hand.  
 _"Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling_ _  
_ _Through an endless diamond sky,"_ Sora finished, somersaulting down the plank to Traverse Town's Gummi Ship dock and crashing against a low stonewall. He grinned at the blueness above.

As Sora and Riku found no sign of each other or Kairi, their happiness faded and the boys' singing became tinged with anxiety–  
 _"I'll chase them anywhere,"_ Riku decided.  
 _"There's time to spare,"_ Kairi was singing as she curled up in her blanket, oblivious to 'her' closest friends' turmoil.  
 _"Let me share these whole new Worlds with you,"_ Sora and Riku chorused.

While the boys kept searching, Kairi explored Twilight Town and its borders.

 _"A whole new world,"_ boys.  
 _"A whole new world,"_ girl.  
 _"That's where we'll be,"_ boys.  
 _"That's where I'll be,"_ girl.  
 _"A thrilling chase,"_ boys.  
 _"A wondrous place,"_ girl.  
 _"For you and me,"_ all three finishing the song (Riku and Sora worried, Kairi wistful), gazing at the sky.

[That Kairi singing in the Bonus is NOT Sora's and Riku's friend. It's the 'Kairi' from the first two Episodes.]

P.S. I am unable to play the game currently, so everything will be made up as I go along. I try to keep to canon through Wikia buuut… *smirks cheekily* Yeah, will probably jut make stuff up as I go along.

Hope nobody minds the slight long-ness of this Episode! (Get it? 'Nobody'. Okay...)

 _"singing/mind-speak"_


	4. Episode 4

**Episode 4. The Magic Within You**

* * *

While the Keyblade wielder was off in memory-land again, Merlin set about preparing a snack of simple cookies and a pot filled with tea. When questioned about that, he explained: "You will **certainly** faint from low blood sugar if you don't eat first, Sora."

Donald nodded in agreement, adding (accompanied by some sweeping hand gestures): "Magick is Mana that's being refined by your mind and channelled through your body to cause the effect – meaning spell – you want. It's impossible to **create** energy; that means you need something to use."

Merlin picked up the explanation there: "Food in your stomach provides chemical energy for all of your organs, as well as turns into raw Mana inside the cells." At Sora's confused expression and Goofy's curious one, he added: "Mana is life energy itself." The old man's dark eyes briefly sparkled at the thought.

The teen crossed his arms, glancing up at the ceiling in thought but then looked at Merlin to ask: "Life... energy?"

"Yes, Sora. Once I have taught you how to access the Mana inside yourself, learning spells will be quite easy. Well, relatively speaking."

"What about **ambient** Mana? That's everywhere, right?"

"Indeed, there is such a thing; ambient Mana is generated by the environment." Merlin smiled, pleased that Sora was not completely clueless about the concept.

"How you know that?" Donald asked the brunette, surprised and a bit suspicious. He was certain the youth had not even known Magick existed, considering his shocked exclamations whenever the feathered wizard had used it in battle when they walked around earlier today. Not to mention what Sora had said only twenty minutes earlier at the door to Merlin's hidden home.

"The main Island back home has a huuuge library. Riku talked Kairi an' me into researching legends there for our Literature summer homework assignment the day before..." Sora's enthusiastic explanation trailed off with an anxious air. He finished silently: _Before the bizarre dream and everything happened._

He stared at nothing for a moment, the others respectfully waiting in silence since they knew the reality of his situation was bound to be hard on the 14-year-old sooner or later.

Sora shook his head before plastering a strained smile on his face. "Anyway, I read about there being Magick inside all living things but it takes a ton of time and training to see it, let alone use any. And it seeps over time into the environment, mostly when lots of magicians live close to each other in one, small place like a village."

"You are correct," Merlin replied at the same time Donald nodded with a pleased "Right!". The elderly male's jovial smile dropped a degree. "Furthermore, because Mana is the essence of life itself, the less life you find in an area the more difficult you will find it to draw upon ambient Mana even from a barren environment seeped in it. Not impossible, but simply more complicated."

Because of how challenging it is to learn the skill of properly sensing the background Mana all living beings generate and yet more so to channel it, very few people bother." Merlin paused in thoughtful melancholy. "Particularly these days."

Sora looked up at the much older human with determination sparking in his eyes. "Well I'd like to learn!" _And promise to find you, Riku, Kairi..._

For a split second, the spiky-head could've sworn he heard her voice say with a small, joyful laugh: _"You already have!"_

"Alakazam!" An oval platform floated down from the wooden ceiling where Merlin had just shot a spell - once the baked cookies had been eaten and the tea served. He hopped on to it, the trio behind himself exchanging dubious looks before following suit. They were raised up into the attic which had circular, triangular and square targets set up all around.

"Now then," Merlin said as he got off the platform, "to start with, Sora, you need to take a seat over there."

The brunette turned his head to where his new teacher indicated, cocking it in confusion at seeing a cushion on the floor in one corner with a triple candlestick in front of it. "Why?"

Merlin laughed good-naturedly. "To use Magic, you need to find the personal Mana stores inside of yourself first. That is why not just any kid off the street can become a witch or wizard; the stores must be found and therefore opened before the age of majority for their species as otherwise the stores will remain locked."

Donald crossed his arms, tapping a yellow webbed foot impatiently as he scoffed: "Obviously."

"Take Leon, for example – I taught him when he was about 5 years older than you, Sora, but the poor lad was unable to do much beyond the various stages of Fire regardless of how hard he practiced. The only reason Leon managed to use Magic at all was because he had been using certain marble-like Magical items known as Materia to perform basic Elemental spells from youth, which opened his Mana pathways. Those are also known as Chi or Chakra pathways on many Worlds. Regardless, Leon's difficulties stemmed from him being a 20 years old human – as opposed to, say, 14 like you – when starting to learn Magic from me, a sorcerer. Sorcery is more subtle than Materia Magic, which only requires some willpower and good eye-hand coordination."

"Gee, no pressure," Sora mumbled with a hint of sarcasm.

Goofy put a gloved hand on the teen's shoulder. "You can do it, Sora; I know you can!" he said encouragingly.

Said Keyblade wielder returned the smile, feeling – amazingly enough – better for some reason. _Goofy kinda reminds me of Mum. Maybe that's why...?_

* * *

While Sora was sitting on the cushion trying to calm his erratic thoughts in a vain attempt to meditate, Riku was not staying idle either.

He was sitting on the floor in a large, mostly-windowless library, surrounded by piles of books not unlike Merlin's own. "Okay, so... A Keyblade is 'the key' that can open/close any lock in the Universe. _'Keyblades are said to hold phenomenal power. According to legend, the wielder of Kingdom Key – the Keyblade formed by the Realm of Light, saved the Worlds. Through numerous trials across the cosmos, the Wielder proved themselves worthy of their weapon.'_ …Go figure." Flicking the pages of the dusty old tome, Riku soon came across a (slightly) newer passage on the pages of parchment. He read it aloud too: " _'The Keyblade wielder originated from the Realm of Darkness. Claims of their extraordinary feats were twisted to profess noble intent, when the truth is much more sinister. The weapon carried by them was borne not of Light, but Darkness. Their Kingdom Key-_ _ **D**_ _wrought chaos and ruin to the Worlds.'_ Huh. Looks like history can't make up its mind…"

A heavy sigh. The 15-year-old rubbed his temples, wondering under his breath should he go nick a Potion or search for an aspirin. _That might get rid of this damn migraine..._

 _"You could always destroy Heartless with that Keyblade of yours."_

Riku's head snapped up, gloved hands clenching into fists as he demanded: "Who's there?!"

 _"Does it matter?"_ A cold laugh. _"Not as if a sad washout like you can do a damn thing about it; a Keyblade wielder who can't summon his_ _ **own weapon**_ _."_

The silverette whirled around and punched the tall bookshelf behind himself out of sheer frustration at the young, mysterious voice's nerve. "You son of a–!"

 _"Ah, ah, ah! That little jump through the Realm of Darkness was quite invigorating. For me that is, since you just passed out – like_ _ **him**_ _._

 _..._ _ **He**_ _never cared, by the way."_ Was there… a hint of pain present? And why did the confused 15-year-old feel as though these two males it mentioned were separate people?

 _What?!_ Riku leapt to his feet with practiced ease, looking around for the source of that voice but to no avail. He growled in his throat, deeply irritated – his first assumption was that it had referred to the role model he'd had half his life. The impatient teen abandoned that trail of thought in favour of shouting: "Who are you?!"

 _"I'm me."_ Total conviction.

"Was that... was that supposed to be a **joke**? 'Cause I'm not laughing!"

The voice chuckled in malicious amusement. _"Better hurry; time is ticking,_ _ **Riku**_ _."_

Riku ran off with a snarl. But its last words kept echoing in his ears, no matter where he went.

In the castle's Entrance Hall, he literally bumped into a very tall, thin woman with light green skin and two black devilish horns on her head. She was clad in black from head to toe, a scepter held by its shaft one in one bony hand with sharp purple nails. "Do watch where you run, child."

Riku looked up at her suspiciously. _Just 'cause you gave me a place to sleep last night_ _ **doesn't**_ _mean I trust you, Maleficent._ But he had enough common-sense not to voice this thought.

Raising her dark eyes from the silverette to a random point behind him, the witch added: "Try to show at least some decorum. My castle is not a playground."

The tense boy, having already become pissed off as heck, clenched his gloved hands into tight fists but nevertheless nodded. "Of course, ma'am," he said as politely as possible through gritted teeth. Riku then crossed his arms, scowling as he looked away thinking: _No way in hell I'm going to tell her what just happened,_ _ **but**_ _I might as well say something. As he would say, 'truth is always subjective'._ "I was in the Library," the 15-year-old sulkily answered Maleficent's question about his whereabouts. _Trying to find out how I can reach Sora and Kairi, but none of the books did any good. And what little I found out about the Keyblade was sooo helpful, NOT._

"Regardless, you **do** require a weapon if you are to traverse the Worlds. I will not have my apprentice die from helplessness," the witch stated, though her face and tone completely lacked warmth. She only cared to pass on the knowledge of sorcery – that goody-two-shoes Merlin and incompetent Madam Mim, not to mention Yen Sid the recluse, were no proper teachers as far as Maleficent as concerned. There were others, of course; none besides herself worthy of training potential like Riku's.

 _Ah, right. The Magick lessons. How could I forget?_ said boy thought with a hint of sarcasm. _I can't decide if Maleficent is taunting me about the lack of a particular weapon, or just stating a fact. ..._ _ **Why**_ _can't I summon my Keyblade?!_ To Riku's irritated anger, that disembodied voice CHUCKLED.

"Hades?" Maleficent quietly called. At once, a light-blue-skinned and sharp-faced male appeared in a large puff of smoke. He stuck a pointed finger into his ear and pretended to remove earwax. In place of hair was a bluebell flame.

"Hi, how you doin'? The name's Hades, Lord of the Dead. And you are **the** man of the hour, Riku! Pleasure to make your acquaintance, kid; truly." Riku cringed at Hades' up and down tone of voice as his hand was grabbed to be shaken. Realizing he was showing weakness, the silverette then scowled and wrenched his fingers from the creepy guy's bony ones. Undeterred, Hades disappeared in the same smoke as less than a minute ago. And instantaneously afterwards reappeared a foot behind Riku, the startled teen whirling around at having a hand placed onto his shoulder. He glared at the bigger male whom was wearing a grey, smoky toga and now literally lounging on **thin air**.

"Don't touch me!" the silverette at once growled. _I_ _ **hate**_ _to be touched. ...Unless it's Sora or Kairi; I don't mind those two._

For a split second, his chest ached in melancholy at having been separated from his best friends. Riku then shook his head a bit, lips twitching into a small smile as he focused on the fact he was finally on a whole other WORLD and free from borin' old Destiny Islands.

He looked up at the two people – for lack of a better word – standing near himself. _Looks like I completely missed their conversation..._ Maleficent started walking away while Hades smiled (which was quite creepy considering the sharp teeth Riku caught a glimpse of). Scowling in annoyance at his own inattention, the teen asked: "What do you want?"

Hades placed a hand over his heart in mock-offense. He then shook his head, saying in the tone of voice that made him sound as though he thought the youngster in front of himself was 5 instead of 15: "Riku, Riku, **Riku**... C'mon, kid, get your head in the game! Speaking of which, lets go get that weapon for you."

Cyan eyes blinked in surprise. "Huh?" Riku at once bit his tongue for letting his confusion show.

"Follow me, kiddo." With that, Hades vanished in a puff of smoke again and reappeared before the door which bore the Heartless symbol and led to the Lift Stop. Grumbling obscenities under his breath, Riku hurried over.

Their trek through the bizarre castle ended at a pair of thick, metallic double doors at Level 0A (as opposed to Level 1B, where they started from). Riku rolled his eyes when Hades made a short production of slamming the doors open with his arms covered by orange flames to reveal a weaponry. "Hel-lo, **Cloudy!** See here, kid needs a weapon. Mind takin' care of that? Thanks!" Without giving the pale young man (whom was leaning against a wooden worktop, wiping his enormous broadsword's wide, single-edged blade with a clean cloth) a chance to respond, Hades instantly Smoked away.

Riku turned his gaze from where Maleficent's colleague had disappeared from to the human male now picking up a bottle of oil. Tilting his chin up, the silverette stated with a hint of pride: "I've been training with swords since I was a kid. I can handle getting my own weapon just fine."

 ** _"All right, class, listen up!_**

 ** _If you fool around in here, I will_** _kick you out_ _ **. If you come in late, I will**_ _kick you out_ _ **. If you DISOBEY even once, I will**_ _what_ _ **?" A honey-blonde clad in a knee-length pale pink skirt over black pants and a vest with a golden collar walked from one side of the cuboid gymnasium to the other, hands clasped behind her back as she looked at the 40 or so children sitting on the floor from the corner of her eye. She was less than ten years older than the students, yet her presence garnered immense respect.**_

 ** _12-year-old Riku stared impassively, though a snort escaped him as an excited Sora waved his hand in the air. Their Self-Defence teacher looked over all her students before her stern gaze settled on the messy-haired brunette. "Caelum!"_**

 ** _"_** ** _Kick us out?" Riku bit his lip to keep from snickering at the sheer adorableness of Sora's innocent answer. A brunette girl, dressed in white and tangerine, and named Selphie, had no such caution as she let out a loud "Aww!"._**

 ** _"_** _Precisely_ _ **." The bespectacled young woman's gaze then moved on from a grinning Sora to take in all her new pupils. "Is that clear?"**_

 ** _"_** ** _YES, MA'AM!" came the chorused answer._**

 ** _"_** ** _Yeesh! The rumours 'bout Miss Trepe weren't exaggerated, ya?" a tanned boy, Wakka, whispered to a smaller boy with light brown hair. Tidus grinned, whereas Selphie glared at the orangette in annoyance._**

 ** _"_** ** _Call me Quistis, DiMaggio. And_** _no_ _ **talking when I speak."**_

 ** _Wakka gulped. "Ya, man – I mean, Quistis ma'am! Got it!"_**

 ** _"_** ** _Good." Clapping her hands together, she ordered: "Everyone, choose a weapon."_**

 ** _Riku tugged on Sora's hand. They wandered with their peers to the huge closet in one corner, its double doors open to show racks with an organized set of various weapons. There was a definite air of excitement despite Quistis making it clear nobody would be doing any actual sparring for at least 6 months._**

A snow-blonde eyebrow rose at Riku's arrogant-sounding certainty, hidden lips quirking in a hidden smirk in amusement at the naivety. It was not so much funny as it was giving him a rueful feeling for the innocence lost long ago. _I suppose I can give the kid a hand for now. ...What better way to keep an eye on a potential mini-Sephiroth?_

* * *

In Traverse Town...

"Merlin, I was wondering..." Donald said, tearing his gaze from Sora. It had been over an hour already with no change.

The human wizard followed suit as he looked at his fellow magician in curiosity. "Hmm? What is it, Donald?"

"Well... what kind of Wards do you have here?"

"Ah, the Runes on my entrance door are most of the framework for an Intention Ward. If a person approaching my house means harm, the boulder will carry them back to the starting point and drop them there. If a Heartless appears on it, the boulder will vanish from underneath their feet and so the intruder is plunged into the water. Which is spelled to slowly disintegrate anyone touching it.

The second Ward, around the islet, is an invisible wall that bounces backwards anyone not keyed in to enter. It is mostly a warning; there is also an Alert tied to it, which is how I knew people had come to see me. I expected you, Goofy and Sora long beforehand, of course."

"Ah," Donald replied, scratching the side of his head. He then shook it and turned his attention back on Sora.

His eyes widening in shock, the feathered mage leapt into the air and instinctively flicked his wand into his hand from its holster before instantly enlarging it into staff form. Goofy did the same with his shield, unclipping the teal arrow made of a small piece of cloth to take the shield into his gloved hand. Merlin, meanwhile, relatively easily Transfigured himself into a blue-shelled, turtle with pale grey skin, then pulled his little head (as well as limbs) into the shell. The energy wave soon passed.

Once all of the dust that had just kicked up from the corners of the long-disused Magic Training Room settled, all three returned to normal. They stared at Sora.

* * *

 _This_ _ **isn't**_ _working!_ the brunette thought, scowling in annoyance. He took a deep breath and tried again to reach a meditative state, as Merlin had described he needed to do. Sora had found his thoughts floundering every time he finally managed to clear his mind. _I wish Riku were here... Then me an' him could stink at meditating together._

 _"_ _Well that makes two us."_

That was the **voice** he had heard a little while earlier, and in his bizarre dream yesterday! _Where'd you come from?_ Sora mentally asked, confused.

 ** _The 14-year-old soon found himself floating down in a dark abyss. After he moved upright and landed softly on a platform of some sort, Sora was surprised by 'birds' when taking a step forward made them fly and so, in doing that, reveal a bright, stained glass underneath his shoe. They then soared away into the abyss._**

 ** _He looked down in curiosity, strongly reminded of the Yin and Yang legend by the 2 sleeping boys. One of whom could pass as a paler, slightly older version of himself! Well, if it weren't for the paleness and soot black hair..._**

 **"** **So much to do, so little time…"**

 ** _"_** ** _Huh? Who's there?" the teen at once asked, slowly turning his head as he tried to figure out where the mysterious yet youthful voice was coming from._**

 **"** **Don't be afraid; the Door is still shut. Now, step forward.** Can **you do it?"**

 ** _Sora frowned at how the voice went from comforting to mildly challenging._** **Kinda reminds me of Riku…** ** _Shaking his head, the brunette walked to the center of the Station. He looked from the golden blonde to the ravenette and back again, puzzled. Raising his head, Sora peered up into the darkness in a vain attempt to locate the source of the voice._**

 ** _He was startled by the three pedestals appearing fro the stained glass, each holding a different dream weapon than the next. They formed an imaginary triangle around Sora, the voice having said as the pedestals had appeared:_** **"** **Power sleeps within you. If you give it form, it will give you strength."**

 ** _Sora picked up the floating sword first, poking a red ruby imbedded in its pale yellow hilt with an index finger._** **"** **The power of the warrior... Invincible courage... The sword of terrible destruction,"** ** _the voice told him._**

 _ **The brunette blanched. Shaking his head, he returned the sword.**_

 **"** **...Why don't you want that one?"** ** _the voice asked curiously, sounding as though it just wanted to keep a conversation going._**

 ** _"_** ** _Dad says it's wrong to break stuff on purpose if you're not a construction worker. I'm not as good as Riku at sword-fighting, anyway," Sora said, mentally adding:_** **And I don't want to** destroy **anything...**

 **"** **I know what you mean."**

 ** _"_** ** _How come?"_**

 **"** **Not sure... I just, urgh..."** ** _Sora couldn't help staring up into the abyss with concern for his invisible companion. He heard a loud sigh that echoed in the Station's silence._** **"Never mind, lets carry on."**

 ** _"_** ** _O.K., if ya say so..." Sora murmured, going to the red and black shield next._**

 **"** **The power of the guardian..." _the voice told him once he'd picked it up,_ "Kindness to aid friends... The shield to repel all..."**

 ** _Sora grinned. The spiky-haired boy looked upwards, letting out a laugh. "This one sounds perfect!"_**

 ** _The voice laughed too._** **"** **Yeah. I think– Erm, better that I** don't **say my opinions until you've picked your dream weapon."**

 ** _"_** ** _I look forward to hearing 'em." Sora put the shield back, his curiosity driving him to take a look at the green staff with a bright blue glass orb at one end._**

 **"** **The power of the mystic... Inner strength... The staff of wonder and ruin..."**

 ** _The 14-year-old bit his lip, then nodded in determination. He returned to the shield and picked it up._**

 **"** **Is this the power you seek, Sora?"**

 ** _"_** ** _Yeah." It vanished in silvery sparkles. Next he watched in fascination as the pedestals – for lack of a better word –_** _melted_ _ **into the stained glass.**_

This time, his shadow **didn't** come to life. Sora stared at the Yin-Yang boys in silent wonder. He then looked into the abyss, loudly asking: "Who are you? What IS this place?!"

 _"_ _Your Dive to Heart."_

"And you? How long have ya been here? Why can't I see you but you can see me?" As he questioned the voice, Sora saw colourful glass stairs appear. He followed them down to the Station of himself, listening intently at the voice's answer as he went:

 _"…_ _I don't know. My memories… they're so messed up, so out of reach. ...I, I only_ _ **know**_ _stuff. By instinct."_

 _Oh._ Giving a sympathetic smile, Sora changed the subject just as he stopped in the middle: "You were going to tell me about the dream weapon **you** would pick, last time I was here. Except my shadow kinda stopped that." The way he had gotten knocked off the Yin-Yang Station and landed softly onto his own flashed though the brunette's mind.

The voice laughed brokenly. _"Can't believe you remembered... Yeah, I woulda_ _ **wanted**_ _to pick the shield too."_

Sora's smile turned into a grin, the teen oblivious. "So can ya help me? I'm trying to learn Magic." He pouted at the lack of success, crossing his arms.

 _"_ _Nope, sorry! Although, I 'm pretty sure I once was a person... And the whole Magic thing's familiar t–"_

The voice cut himself off in shock at the appearance of someone behind Sora. Puzzled by that, the 14-year-old turned around in alarm. He gaped.

"K-Kairi...?" Sora reached put towards her. _She looks so_ _ **real**_ _, not like glass this time._ "KAIRI!"

She gave him a sad smile. "Sora!"

To the brunette's horror, a cyan-tinted white puddle appeared underneath her feet. The redhead began to sink through as though it was quicksand. But she **wasn't** afraid.

" **NO**!" Sora rushed over and wrapped his arms around her, only to be stuck in that strange liquid thing too! Thick wisps of it snaked up their bodies and the pair were swallowed by the Light soon enough, much like how Sora was consumed by a puddle of Darkness in his bizarre dream (once he had defeated his shadow on the platform of himself) just before waking up on the beach.

The teen was flailing as the Light began to clear, sky blue eyes opening wide in shock at feeling himself laying on something solid. Panicking, Sora sat up. "Kairi?"

He gaped at seeing he was sitting on a **third** Station, this one unfamiliar since he only had the two his last time in Dive to Heart. It was Kairi's.

The male 14-year-old got up but did not see the girl anywhere. A few tears trickled down rosy, dimpled cheeks; the pain was too much!

"RIKU!

 **KAIRI**!"

* * *

A.N.: Sooo, yeah. Hope the Episode's length makes up for how long it took to get this thrice damned thing done. I couldn't find a good cut off point… Eventually I just cut Ep3 into two coz I reeeally wanted to update.

Was gonna call it _'Your Magic Spark'_ , but I might use that title later.

I know, I know. Tons of exhibition... But I deemed it all necessary sooo, yeah. *rubs nose with a nervous laugh* B.t.w., I added that bit about Wards for the heck of it; won't bring up stuff like that again. Probably.

Yes, I'm calling Hades' method of appearing & disappearing "Smokes/Smoked/Smoking". Don't care that it sounds stupid... *grumbles under her breath*

Not sure how clear I made it, but the first 24 hours 'Kairi' spent in Twilight Town is parallel to this Episode. Following one will cover the next two weeks she spends there as well as the first 3 weeks Sora and Riku are off Destiny Islands. From the start of Ep5 onwards, those three are **in tandem** with each other. (I'm not including the rest of Week 1 for 'Kairi' in Ep4 as that's already been seen in Ep2.)

O.K., so I know I gave a spoiler in here about the fact that Riku is a Keyblade wielder like heroic Sora, but surely y'all don't mind since it's been common knowledge from the day _'Kingdom Hearts'_ first came out? I apologize if that ruined the surprise for anybody who has **not** finished the game yet.

Sora's surname – Caelum – is Latin for 'sky', while I gave Wakka DiMaggio since that's his English voice actor's surname in _'Final Fantasy X'_.

I do NOT view flashbacks as just a person's memories; rather, they're a glimpse to the relevant point in the past for me. Hence we got to see a fair bit of Aqua during one of Sora's in this Ep.

P.S. Sorry about the long Author's Note! *scratches back of head with a sheepish grin*


End file.
